Into a New World
by KatharinaVG
Summary: Katie Davenport, fresh from Charleston is offered a job at PPTH as Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has to deal with a whole new world, a snarky doctor that tries to pry into her past, and her romance with someone.
1. Chapter 1

She rolled over grudgingly when her alarm went off at 6:30. She really didn't want to get up, but it was her first day of work in a new city, and she didn't want to give a bad impression by being late. So instead of hitting the snooze button like she had planned she hit the button that turned her alarm off and sat slowly up in bed. She felt her eyelids slowly lower and fought the urge to go back to sleep by throwing the covers off her and swinging her slender legs off the side of the bed. She felt smart when her feet touched carpet instead of the cold wood floors that she had been almost ready to get. 

Standing there in the dark she decided that a good stretch would wake her up, as it usually did. Lifting her hands behind her back, she leaned back as far as she could go. When she came back up she felt more awake then she had been mere seconds ago. She walked across the bedroom, through the door and into her living room. Tastefully decorated, it was the style that she brought with her from Charleston, classical, yet modern enough. She walked quickly through the living room, as it was one of the rooms in the apartment that did have wood floors and they were cold on her bare feet. Once she reached her bathroom, the cold tile didn't help any, so she through a towel under her feet and took off her bathrobe and turned on the shower. 

Stepping into the warm water, she really felt awake. Breathing in deeply, she felt the steam enter her lungs, making her breathe easily. She lathered her shoulder length dark brown hair and washed it quickly out, for she realized she was spending too much time in the shower. Once she was done, she turned the water off and stepped into the chilly air and wrapped a towel around herself and headed back to her bedroom. Turning on the light, she surveyed her bedroom. The walls were painted a shade of eggshell white, with a dark brown poster bed, with the colors of decoration being brown and blue. Walking over to her closet, she decided on what to wear for her first day. Something tasteful, yet she also wanted to make an impression on her colleagues. She decided on a black pencil skirt, with a red shirt and black undershirt. Bending down she studied her massive shoe collection, and decided upon a pair of pointy toe black high heels. 

Once she had dried herself off, she began dressing. It didn't take her long, for in her old job, she had to look good and in a short amount of time. Once she was fully dressed, minus the shoes, she walked back into the bathroom to dry her hair and apply her makeup. She stared into the mirror for a second, studying her image. Now, she didn't consider herself a beauty, but down in Charleston, she had so many men who followed her around, but she didn't really understand why. All her life she had been in the shadow of six of her cousins. Girls who had won beauty pageants, and who were all married by the age of twenty. At twenty-eight, though, she felt that she was losing time. She quickly looked over her features to see if there was anything visibly wrong with them. She couldn't see anything. Her dark brown hair was set off by her pale skin. Something that Southern women were supposed to have. She felt, growing up that that was the only thing she could do right. Her eyes were a mixture of blue, green, and grey. They often turned to one color or the other depending on her moods. The only thing that she really hated about her face was her long, thin nose. Her aunt said it was a relic from their German ancestors, but she wasn't so sure. 

Looking at the watch on her wrist, she had wasted time dallying in her sorrows, and reached under the cabinet and took out her hairdryer. Flipping her head over, she quickly dried her hair. Speedily putting on her makeup, she raced back into the bedroom, and grabbed her heels, dashing back into the bathroom to finish her dressing ritual. Stepping back to examine the final result, she was pleased. The choice of the pencil skirt and shirt set off her best features. Growing up she had had a bigger chest then all her cousins and got teased all the time about it. But as she matured and grew, she decided that they were not such a bad thing. The red shirt showed just enough cleavage to be intriguing, but didn't show too much. The pencil skirt showed off her little waist that she had gained through her years as a fencer. 

Glancing at her watch one last time, she ran back into her bedroom and grabbed her purse. She took out her keys and walked out of her apartment, locking the door and then headed down the stairs and out the door onto the sidewalk. Walking over to her red Nissan Altima, she hit the button that unlocked it. Settling into her car, she turned it on, looked carefully down the street to make sure no one was coming, pulled out and then headed into the unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

Driving down the foreign streets of New Jersey, she took at least five wrong turns and nearly had an accident before deciding to pull over and vent. Turning her car off, she laid her head on the steering wheel and contemplated a lot of things. She mainly though about her childhood and all the forces that kept her down for so long, about her parents death at the age of 7, about moving to South Carolina to live with her Aunt India and living in the shadow of her cousins.

She had been born Katie Hamilton in the mountains of Western North Carolina. She could remember going up on the parkway, picking blueberries in the summertime and playing in the many rivers and creeks that wound their way through the mountains. One of her fondest memories was just running around barefoot in sundresses throughout the summer. One day though, her life changed forever. She had been in daycare that cold winter day, when she realized that her parents were later then usual in picking her up. She watched as kid after kid left with their parents until she was the only one left. Her teacher had given her a little snack of animal crackers and apple juice while they waited. Then suddenly through the doors walked two policeman bundled up against the cold mountain winter, with somber looks on their faces. Now, she may have only been seven, but by the looks on their faces she could tell that something was seriously wrong. And since she was the only one there, she knew that it pertained to her. Her teacher told her to stay and finish her snack, but curiosity got the better of her, and she slipped out of her seat and slipped over to her teacher. One of the policeman saw her and picked her up and told her in a way that she could understand that her parents had been involved in a car crash and that they had been killed.

A week later after the funeral, she was shipped to live with her mother's sister, India in Charleston, South Carolina. All she could remember about the seemingly long ride down there was worrying about what her aunt would think of her, for she had never met her aunt before. Aunt India had married into one of the oldest families in Charleston, and did everything that she could do to forget her mountain roots, even going so far as to not have contact with her sister. When news reached her that her sister had been killed and that her daughter would seemingly become an orphan, something struck at her heart and decided to adopt Katie. When Katie arrived however, India's six daughter immediately snubbed her as being beneath them. They made fun of her for her "mountain" accent and the poor state of her clothes. The week following the funeral, everyone involved seemingly forgot about Katie, and really didn't pay her attention, except to feed her, so she went down to Charleston in the clothes she had been wearing for days.

Even when she had formally become Katie Davenport, she was still shunned by her cousins and because of that, she preferred to hang out with the local neighborhood boys, much to the chagrin of her aunt who wanted her to become a "little lady". When it came time for her to graduate high school and enter college, her aunt gave her the choice of any college that she wanted. She choose the University of Georgia and decided to study Medicine, specifically Obstetrics and Gynecology. All throughout college she studied hard and never really partying, because she wanted to become somebody, to get away from the childhood that she had. The only happiness that she had was one boyfriend, Thomas, and even that didn't last long. He found her too serious and quickly dumped her. When she graduated with that degree though, she decided to go back to Charleston and rub it in the faces of all those who didn't believe in her.

She got a job in the University of South Carolina's Teaching Hospital in Charleston. She worked long hours, covered others' shifts and generally worked her butt off in the hope of promotion. It took her four years, but she was finally promoted to the head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. And there she remained for a year before getting a call from a Dr. Lisa Cuddy from Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital about taking over their department, due to the death of it's former head. At first she was reluctant to go, but the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. She could get away from the place that tormented her. She could basically start over, and that idea immensely appealed to her.

And that's how she ended up here, with her head on the steering wheel of her Altima on a side street in New Jersey. She was snapped out of her memories by a sharp rap on her window. She jerked her head up, showing an indent from where it had been lying on the steering wheel. If whoever was making the noise was some king of criminal or mugger, she was basically screwed, for she didn't carry pepper spray or any other kind of weapon on her. To her immense relief it was a police officer, inquiring as to why she was here. Katie put the key into the ignition just enough to roll down the window. The policeman was the first to speak:

"Ma'am may I ask what you are doing here? You know it's not exactly the safest place."

Katie winced a little at the sound of his Jersey accent. That was one thing that she would have to get used to: the Yankee accent.

"Well, I'm new to the area…."

That was as far as she got before she was interrupted.

"Yeah, I could tell. Your not from around here are you? By your accent you sound like your from the South."

Katie was getting extremely annoyed by this phrase. She had heard it countless times in just the week that she had been here.

"Well, your right. I'm from South Carolina. And if I may ask a favor? Could you please direct me to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital."

"Why I guess I could" replied the policeman, obviously intrigued by the women in the car. "You take a right at this next street. Then you merge onto the interstate and go for about ten miles. Get off on exit 67 then turn left. Then go for about another three miles take a right then your there."

Katie looked down at the clock on the dash. "Oh, my God" she thought, "I'm about to be late".

She quickly thanked the policeman, rolled the window up, turned the car on and started on her way.


	3. Chapter 3

In the lobby of Princeton Plainsboro stood Lisa Cuddy, anxiously glancing at her watch. "Surely she can't be late for her first day. Well, maybe, she is new to the area. I can cut her a little slack" she thought. During her search for a new Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology she had been talking to her friends for a little advice. One of her friends had heard about a Dr. Katie Davenport of the USC Teaching Hospital, and how she was renowned to be a hard worker and dedicated to her work. Intrigued, she picked up the phone and called Dr. Davenport. At first she had been reluctant to come, but after a few more phone calls, the deal was in the bag.

"You know, the reason that she's late is probably because she's out starting the next Civil War. You know how those pesky Southerners are. Always causing trouble."

Lisa turned around to face Dr. Greg House. She gave him a face of annoyance that should have told him that she wasn't in the mood for his antics. But as usual, House ignored them.

"That is an extremely rude comment, and for your information, the Civil War was over 140 years ago. I'm sure they've given up the fight."

House took this as a challenge and as usual launched into his campaign of smart comments.

"I'm not so sure. When the place is flooded with rednecks and KKK members, I can say I told you so."

"Don't you have some clinic work to do, or a case to work on? Or even somebody else to bug?" the annoyance was becoming clear in her voice.

"Well, I could bug Jimmy, but after a while it just becomes old. You can only beat a dead dog so much."

Ignoring his last remark, Lisa looked back down at her watch. Five minutes to go.

************************************************************************

Katie swiftly pulled into a vacant parking spot a ways back from the hospital, as it was the only one that was open. She turned the car off, grabbed her shoulder bag off the passenger seat opened the door and got out. In her hurry, she stepped down on the wrong foot, temporarily sending her immense pain. "Get over it, you have to be on time" she told herself. When she started walking, pain shot through her ankle, but the more she walked and the closer she got to the hospital the pain subsided. When she reached the door, she stopped for a moment, breathed deeply and walked in.

The lobby of Princeton Plainsboro was beautiful. Very modern and chic, unlike USC. She looked around for Dr. Cuddy, who was supposed to be waiting for her. "Ah, that must be her" she said and walked over to the woman and man standing beside the nurses station. The woman who she assumed must be Dr. Cuddy approached her first and stuck out a hand.

"Dr. Katie Davenport?" the woman inquired cautiously.

"Yes, it's me. And I presume you are doctor Lisa Cuddy?"

"Your presumption is right." Dr. Cuddy replied flashing Katie a smile. Forgetting all formalities, Cuddy pulled her in for a hug. It took Katie by surprise. She didn't expect Yankees to be so friendly. When Katie pulled away she was wearing a look of slight surprise. That's when the man standing beside Cuddy spoke:

"Let me guess. Your not used to being around Yankees, and your surprised that we can actually show human emotion."

Katie looked up at the man and studied him closely. She could tell that this was his usual personality, to be rude and arrogant, but she decided that if her wanted to be like this, two could play this game. She had learned to adapt to whatever environment she was thrown into. She just flashed him a smile a mile wide, which took him by surprise.

"Now, don't you try all the Southern Belle mumbo jumbo on me. It won't work on me. And if your recruiting for the KKK, you can also count me out. Just for your knowledge, I have a black doctor working for me. I can bring you around him, can't I? You won't try anything like making him work on a plantation will you?"

Cuddy quickly elbowed the man in the stomach and smiled quickly at Katie.

"You have to excuse Dr. House. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

And with that she asked Katie to follow her to her office.


	4. Chapter 4

Once they were inside Dr. Cuddy's immaculate office, she offered Katie a chair and motioned for her to sit down. She welcomed the chair, because her ankle was starting to hurt again. Dr. Cuddy sat down behind her desk and acted like she wanted to apologize for House's behavior, but Katie cut her off before she could say anything.

"I know you were going to apologize for his behavior, and I won't hear of it. Believe me, I'm used to it. Why I've only been here for a week and I've gotten a lot of stares anytime I open my mouth. So just don't worry about it. I am more then capable of taking care of myself."

Cuddy opened her mouth to say something, but Katie cut her off once again.

"Please, Dr. Cuddy, no more of this. Let's get down to business."

Cuddy looked at her with a strange look on her face, as if studying Katie to see if she really meant what she said. But going with her senses steered the conversation in a different direction.

"So, Dr. Davenport, how do you like New Jersey thus far?"

Katie shifted slightly in her seat, trying to take the pressure off her ankle.

"Well it isn't home, but I'm sure I will come to love it."

Cuddy started rustling around in her desk, and not finding what she wanted in there, got up and walked over to a filing cabinet. Her fingers paced up and down the files within the cabinet. "Aha" she finally said and pulled out a thick file. She walked back to her desk and opened the file.

"So, Dr. Davenport. You graduated from the University of Georgia tenth in your class. Very impressive….Specialization in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Head of the Department at University of South Carolina Teaching Hospital………..I must say, you have achieved a lot in your twenty-eight years on earth.. Your parents must be proud."

She did not immediately notice that Katie's eyes moved towards the ground. It was the silence that tipped her off the something was wrong.

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong…..If I did I assure you it wasn't intentional."

When Katie looked up at Cuddy, she noticed that there were beginnings of tears starting to well up in her eyes. The look that she gave Cuddy though, told her that they were not around for them to be proud of her. Katie used the sleeves of her shirt to wipe away the tears welling in her eyes, not caring that it did not look professional at all.

"I really did not mean to upset you….Is there anything I can do?"

"Listen, Dr. Cuddy, you didn't know that the subject would upset me. How could you? It's not your fault."

Cuddy looked desperately around for anything that she could change the subject to. She was rescued by Katie.

"So, Dr. Cuddy, do you care if I walk up to my office and get to work? I'm rather anxious to start."

"No. not at all. I'll walk up later and check on you."

With that Katie got up out of her chair, grabbed her bag and walked out.


	5. Chapter 5

It was interesting to see the diversity of people walking about the halls of the hospital. All ages, all races, all kinds of people there for one purpose, to help people. She had always been a nurturing person ever since she was little. She had always been the one to take care of babies and actually enjoyed it. That's why she decided to go into Obstetrics and Gynecology. Now where exactly was the Obstetrics wing? She walked over to the directory sign on the wall and started to examine it, trying to pin down the location of her office. Skimming down the list she saw Oncology, Neurology, Pediatrics, Emergency Room. "Ah, there it is. On the fourth floor" she said to herself. Turning around, she skimmed the hallway for an elevator. She found one a couple of feet from the directory. Walking over she pressed the button, waited for the doors to open, and then boarded the elevator.

Ding, ding, ding, ding. The elevator opened up on the fourth floor. Stepping out, she saw the huge sign that said "OBSTETRICS" and she knew she was on the right floor. She walked over to the nearest nurses station and rang the bell for assistance. There was a nurse there, but she didn't seem to be all that interested in helping Katie. She rung the bell again. Still, the woman ignored her.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me for just a second?"

The woman who was bending over a filing cabinet, still seemed to ignore her. At this point, her ankle was throbbing, and all she wanted to do was find her office, and take her shoe off so she could properly examine her ankle. She decided that maybe if she rose her voice and sounded more demanding that she would get some attention.

"EXCUSE ME" Katie said with more force then she had mustered in a while. The nurse jumped up from her filing and shot Katie and look of pure hatred. Wanting to milk the situation for all it was worth, she decided to take her time in getting up from her chair and actually walking up to Katie. Now, it didn't take Katie long to figure out what the nurse was doing and it was taking all her emotional strength not to jump over the barrier and knock some sense into the woman. So she resigned herself to tapping her fingers loudly on the barrier. When the nurse finally reached her, she gave Katie a big smile and said in a sickly, honey like voice:

"Yes, may I help you?"

Even though all she wanted to do was to smack the women across the face, she gave the woman an equally big smile and said in an equally honey-like voice:

"Yes you may help me. You see, I'm the new Head of the Obstetrics Department, Dr. Katie Davenport, and all I want is directions to my new office."

On hearing who Katie was, the nurse blushed and started apologizing profusely.

"Oh, Dr. Davenport, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize who you were. Oh, that's right, Dr. Cuddy did mention that you would be arriving today. I feel like such an idiot. Right this way Doctor."

Katie felt better now that the women apologized, but made a mental note that she was going to have to keep an eye on her. She didn't want any complaints coming to her about any rude nurses.

Surprisingly, her office was only a couple of doors away from the nurses station. She was in the hub of things on this floor. When they reached the door to her office she saw that Cuddy had already gotten her plaque put on that said:

Dr. Katie Davenport

Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology

The nurse pushed open the door and ushered her in. She stayed in the room for a moment, again apologizing profusely, then left and shut the door. Katie stood in the middle of the room and surveyed it. "Wow, this is much nicer then my office back in Charleston" she thought. The walls were painted a nice deep, red burgundy color. But they were too bare for her liking. "I'm going to have to go buy some artwork to put on these". The tall, oak bookshelves were already full of her books (she had had them shipped up the week before). A hard oak wooden desk was pushed back near the window with a new computer sitting atop it. There was also a nice beige couch in the corner.

She walked over to her desk and placed her bag on top of it, and plopped down into the nice plush office chair. There was already a pile of patient files on top of the desk. She would attend to them later. Now she was going to see about her ankle.

************************************************************************

On the other side of the hospital in the cafeteria sat Dr. House and Dr. Wilson. Wilson was content in his lunch, while House was deep in thought.

"You know that if maybe you talked about what was on your mind, you just might figure out that others may have a solution to your problem." Wilson said between bites of his salad.

House gave him a look that told Wilson he was in for a sarcastic remark, started to open his mouth and then said quickly:

" I know who could help us. Come on."

"But my salad" Wilson pointed towards his unfinished salad.

"Believe me, your going to like this a whole lot more then any salad."

Wilson got up grudgingly and followed House out of the cafeteria.

************************************************************************

"Where are we going. And why are you keeping it a secret." Wilson said when they were halfway down the hallway. Usually, he was interested in what House was up to, but he just really wanted to finish his lunch.

"We are going to what you would call a "mysterious lady part's doctor." And with that House pushed the elevator button. Wilson rolled his eyes at the crude term for Gynecologist. But he was used to such remarks.

The elevator opened and they both stepped in.

"My new patient is a twenty-one year old girl, with what you could call the lady parts of a eighty year old."

"Oh, come on House, that's just disgusting."

"That's what all the hookers say to me too. But sometimes you just have to trudge through the nastiness to get to what you want."

The elevator opened up on the fourth floor. They both walked over to the nurses station and asked for Dr. Davenport's office.

"Hey, isn't that the new doctor Cuddy hired?"

"Yeah, but I would watch out, she might start shouting about states rights at you. She's a bit of a hothead."

"How would you know?"

"Well, I don't really. But I have seen my share of Southern women and trust me, they all tend to be firecrackers. Must be something in the water down there."

They had finally reached her office door, and House, ignoring the usual formality of knocking on the door, threw it open.


	6. Chapter 6

When the door opened, they found Katie with her ankle propped up on the desk with an ice park on it. 

House hobbled into her office and gave her a sarcastic smile.

"Oh. Miss Scarlett, did you twist your ankle while out for a stroll around the plantation?"

Ignoring him, she continued to read that patient file that she was currently on. If there was one thing that annoyed House, it was being ignored. He hobble further into her office and slammed his cane down on her desk, missing her ankle by mere inches. Katie's eyes stopped skimming the file but she didn't put it down immediately. Slowly she closed it and threw it on the desk, giving House an expression he was used to seeing: one of annoyance. 

"Twenty-One year old girl comes into the clinic with abdominal extension. You know what that means, don't you?"

"Well no, come to think of it I think I slept through that part of medical school. Yes, of course I know what it means."

"No need to get smart Dr. Davenport, I was only inquiring as to the extent of your medical knowledge."

Katie shifted in her seat so that she could move her ankle, because it was starting to get numb. Moving in her chair enabled her to see the man who was standing behind House. She looked him up and down with her eyes, and she could see that he was doing the same. He was rather handsome, with his brown hair and brown eyes (she had always been a sucker for brown eyes). She decided to speak directly to the man, who seemed to be content to stay out of the scrap. She folded her arms on her chest and spoke:

"So, does he always bring you along when he interrogates people? Or do you seemingly get as much of a kick out of it as he does?"

The man seemed shocked that she had spoken to him, as he thought that he could just sink into the walls and watch the confrontation. It took him a second to reply:

"Well, no, not really. To be honest, I just wanted to finish my salad."

House rounded on Wilson and told him to go eat his damned salad. Wilson seemed a little reluctant to leave, but did anyway.

"Now there is someone who I believe is more pathetic then you are. I mean for starters……."

Katie felt the anger welling up inside her. Who did he think he was to call her pathetic? Did he know how much she had went through to get to this point in her life. Ignoring the pain in her ankle, she removed it from her desk and started to stand up.

"Don't bother, there's no use in you hurting your dainty little ankle further."

His goading didn't help her any. The combination of pain and his words were about to send her over the brink. 

"Who are you to call me pathetic? You don't even know me. How dare you….."

"I know that your hiding something. Something that you don't want anybody to know about."

She was dumbstruck. 

"How do you know that I'm hiding something? I didn't know you were a psychologist."

"Well for starters, your accent…"

"What in the hell does that have to do with anything?

"It is an interesting combination of a Appalachian accent and a Charleston accent."

"What is so unusual about that? I am originally from North Carolina and I moved to South Carolina when I was seven."

"I'm guessing that you were there long enough to eradicate any form of the Appalachian accent. But you didn't want to."

She was dumbstruck. Where was he trying to go with this?

"Are you an expert on accents or what?"

"No, I am an expert on when people are lying to me."

"How do you know that I am lying to you?"

"Well, your body language indicates that you are very closed off……I wonder…"

"My body language is closed off because you come up here without any provocation and accuse me of something so far out in left field……"

"I got curious after I looked in your file and saw on your birth certificate that you birth name is Hamilton and somehow mysteriously changed to Davenport, yet I see no wedding ring…."

He was going to far, she couldn't let him figure it out. Not that it was a huge secret or anything, she just didn't want this complete stranger to know every detail about her life. She slowly got up out of her char and limped towards House. He knew that he had struck a chord with her. She looked truly dangerous. When she did speak, it was very slowly and calm:

"I want you out of my office now. Just do what I say, and nothing more will happen."

She continued to limp towards him, and he backed up as she moved forwards. Finally she had him out in the hallway. That's when she slammed the door in his face and he heard the lock click. 


	7. Chapter 7

She sat there brooding in her chair behind her desk. Her ankle was killing her and she couldn't think straight. Looking down at the file on her desk, she groaned. She really needed to go check this women out. Complicated pregnancies were not her favorite thing, for there was so much that could go wrong. She decided to suck it up and go. 

Standing up, she straightened her skirt and put her one high heel back on. Katie grabbed the file off the desk and walked over to the hook on the back of the door that was holding her white doctors coat, opened the door and walked out into the hallway. She was again thrown into the crowd of people just going about their daily work. Katie was not sure which way to go and opened the file. She scanned it until she saw the information that she needed. 

"Lets see here, Room 452, I think that's just down the hall. If not I can just turn around and go the opposite direction".

She was right in her original assumption that the room was down the hall and was there in no time. Katie knocked lightly on the door and it was pulled open by a young man about her age. He looked like he was about to ask who she was, but thought better when he saw the white doctors coat. 

"I'm Dr. Katie Davenport. Would you mind if I came in?"

The man hesitated, and looked her over carefully. Something just wasn't right about him. Katie had seen this kind of look before. She had her suspicions that he was a drug addict, but she couldn't really prove it without running some tests.

When the man did speak, it was very quick an to the point.

"Yeah, sure whatever."

She edged into the room and around him, and walked over to the bed that contained a very sickly looking young woman. The woman didn't look right either. Usually pregnant women have a certain glow about them, but not this one. She looked deathly pale. Katie had a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong. She reached into the bed and squeezed the patients hand.

"I'm Dr. Katie Davenport, and I'm here to check on you."

The woman tried to speak, but before she could, the man hurried over from his corner and spoke for her.

"This is my wife Jenny Gordon." Eyeing her suspiciously, he continued: "And what exactly do you want to know?"

"I need to ask your wife some questions" Katie replied with a heavy emphasis on wife.

Jenny looked at her husband with pleading eyes, and after a moment he relented and retreated back into his corner.

"So Jenny, how far along are you?"

The woman licked her lips, trying to get some moisture on them, before speaking. And when she did speak, it was a weak, pitiful voice.

"Well, I think about four months on. But I'm not sure."

"Well, would you mind if we took a look at your stomach? My hands may be cold, but it won't take long."

She looked over at her husband, as if granting her permission, and when she seemed to gain that permission, she reluctantly, lifted the covers and lifted her hospital gown, revealing her heavily swollen belly. 

Katie seemed shocked that someone who was only four months along looked like she was about nine months, but what shocked her even more was that the woman's stomach was purple. Horrified, she ran her hand over the woman's belly, trying to feel for any lumps or anything else abnormal.

"And you said you were about four months along?"

The woman nodded, but didn't say anything. 

"Has anyone done a sonograph on you? Because we can definitely determine how far along you are with one of those."

At the mention of this the man emerged from his corner and approached Katie.

"I'm not sure if I want you doing that test on my wife. It's dangerous isn't it?"

She tried but she couldn't resist. She had to give the man a stupid look. But she quickly pulled herself together. 

"Sir, I understand your concern, but the test isn't in the least bit dangerous. All we do is rub a little bit of jelly on an object and seemingly take pictures of what it going on inside you wife's belly."

The man seemed like he didn't quite believe what she was saying, but consented to the procedure. Katie walked back over to the door and called to one of the nurses to bring a sonograph machine. One was delivered to her within minutes and she wheeled it over to the bed. She pulled on some gloves and squirted the jelly on the sonograph and applied it to the woman's belly. Staring at the screen, she looked hard to try and find the baby that was sure to be there. Where could it be? Where could it be? That's when something caught the corner of her eye. What is that? "Oh, my God," she thought to herself when she was sure what it was.


	8. Chapter 8

She found herself trying to calm herself down and think rationally. What she saw on the sonograph, she was fairly certain was some kind of intestinal tumor, and that would explain why her stomach was purple. But who did she go to, who did she inform. Back at USC she normally went to the Oncologist, firstly to determine if the tumor or mass was cancerous, and if it was there would be other work to be done. 

The women lying in the bed was naturally frightened by Katie reaction, and was visibly frightened. She told the women to cover herself up and that she would be back in a little while to check on her. When she walked out of the room, she glanced back, and she saw that the man was intently watching her, with what she thought was a hint of malice in his eyes.

Walking over to the nurses station, she inquired as to who was the Head of Oncology. 

"That would be Dr. James Wilson" the nurse absentmindedly said all the while flipping through a file. 

"And could you maybe tell me where I could find him?"

"Well, he's probably in his office, or he could be out on rounds."

Katie was starting to get aggravated at the nurse and ripped the file out of her hand to reveal a shocked looking face on the other side. 

"Well, could you tell me how to get to his office?"

The nurse looked wearily at Katie and sighed.

"Yeah, sure. Take the elevator back down to the first floor. Right in front of you, you will see the Oncology wing. Go through the doors and down to the very end of the hallway and you should see his office. If he's not there, your best bet would be to page him."

Katie decided that the nurse had served her purpose and handed her back the file. 

"Thank you", she said cordially and walked away toward the elevator. 

She pressed the down button on the elevator and sucked in, for there was a great rush of people into the elevator with her. Ding, ding, ding and then the doors opened. She squeezed her way to the doors and she could freely breath again. She looked ahead and just like the nurse said, she could see the Oncology wing ahead of her. Walking towards it, she opened the glass doors and walked through. Katie had to admit it, she was impressed with this hospital. It only took her a couple of minutes to reach the end of the wing, and sure enough, there was Dr. Wilson's door. 

She raised her hand and knocked. Nobody answered. Again she knocked, and this time she heard a faint voice through the heavy oak door telling her to come in. She opened the door and slid through and closed it. Sitting there at the desk was the doctor that had accompanied Dr. House earlier today. He did not immediately take notice of her, for he was signing furiously away at papers. He did put a finger up, indicating that he would get to her in a moment. When he looked up, he smiled.

"So did Dr. House drive you so insane you had to come see me?"

There was something about the way that he smiled at her that made her feel weird. Not in a creepy way weird, but an unusual feeling she had not felt since she had been with Thomas. 

"No, unfortunately, I have a patient to discuss with you. If your not too busy."

He motioned to the pile of paperwork on his desk with his hands and said:

"Well, I'm always busy, but you happened to get me in a low point in my busy day. So what is it you wanted to discuss." And with that he motioned her to the empty chair opposite his desk.

As she sat down, she could see him oh, so subtlety gazing at her. It wasn't really in a lustful way, but in more of an interested way. But somehow, she didn't feel weird that he was basically checking her out, unlike all the other men who did it to her. She felt somehow safe with him.

Once she sat down, she handed him the file across the table, and allowed him a couple of minutes to read it. All the while she gazed around his office. Play and movie posters adorned the walls. So, he was interested in the performing arts. That was a sign of a cultured man. 

"Well, Dr. Davenport, I hate to burst your bubble, but my specialty isn't Obstetrics, you might want to consult someone else."

"I know it seems strange but when I went to examine her, I found that her stomach was purple."

This seemed to intrigue Dr. Wilson, as he leaned onto his elbows and gazed at her.

"When I did a sonograph, I noticed that there was a huge tumor in her stomach. And if you wouldn't mind, I would like it if you were to walk up there with me and give me your opinion as what to do next."

He closed the file and handed it back to her. He reached behind him and grabbed his white coat off the hook, stood up and pushed his chair under his desk. Katie took this as her signal to also stand up. He moved over to the door and held it open for her. Katie blushed just slightly at this act of chivalry and walked into the hallway. As they rounded the twists and turns of the Oncology wing, he spoke:

"So Dr. House says your from South Carolina. I've always wanted to visit. I'm a sucker for the beaches. What part are you from."

"Well, I was born in North Carolina and moved to South Carolina when I was seven. But since then I lived in the Low Country, specifically Charleston."

"Did you happen to live anywhere near the Battery. I would love to walk along there and look at all the old houses."

"Well, I lived on the Battery."

He stopped and looked at her with a dumbstruck expression on his face. 

"How did you manage that?"

"It's a long story. Anyways, about that patient." And she continued walking.

When they had finally reached the woman's room, Katie noticed that the man was gone. This unnerved her slightly, but walked over to the woman.

"Jenny, how are you feeling? I've brought someone to help look at the image on the screen, and then were going to get you all fixed up."

Katie fired up the sonograph machine and again lifted up the woman's gown. She showed no signs of modesty, even with a strange man in the room. She had to concentrate on finding that mass again. It seemed to her that it was hidden under a flap of tissue, that's why it was so hard to find. Once she had spotted it, she froze the image and called for Dr. Wilson. 

Pointing to the screen she said:

"She what I was talking about. It's huge. She says she is only four months along, but she looks more like nine. That would explain the abnormal abdominal extension."

"Yeah, I see what your talking about. From the location it looks like it is in the ovaries. The tumor must be cutting off the blood supply, and that would account for her stomach being purple."

"So do you think it is cancerous?"

"There is about a fifty-fifty shot. It's hard to tell without doing a biopsy. I'll run down to Surgery and see if there is an opening sometime today. You figure your up for surgery on your first day?" He asked a he headed out the door with a smile on his face.


End file.
